“There’s no cell coverage here.  Not that you’re well-covered anywhere in the Show-Me between Kansas City and St. Louis.  There’s a scarcity of cell towers, and our rock formations scatter signals.  Still, I tried Phil’s number again and again as I barreled from Roan to Jewel.  I climbed the high-altitude clip of blasted limestone and sheer drop-offs, a treacherous route in even slightly inclement weather, motoring through the whiteout of January snow, ignoring all safety and common sense.”

Roan (a novel) is a literary mystery with sensibilities in the mold of S.A. Cosby, Tana French, Rebecca Makkai, and Richard Russo.  The novel begins with Professor Miles Avery discovering his friend and colleague, Phil Unger dead from an apparent suicide.  Miles, wayward son of the celebrated forensic pathologist, Dr. Conrad Avery is suspicious of the scene.  As he digs into the case, the ensuing events test his relationships with his wife, his young son, his ailing father, and Phil’s young widow (with whom Miles has an intimate history).  Bodies accumulate and Miles’ desperate investigation triggers memories from his own dark past.  Set in small-town, central Missouri, Roan explores circles of loss and guilt as Miles struggles for release in dangerous, rocky terrain.              

 Here is an early blurb from Stacey Swann, author of Olympus, Texas (Doubleday, GMA selection):

 Goldberg’s Roan is a novel of our times, a riveting noir updated with characters that must grapple with trauma and the long-term legacy of abuse. It depicts the stoic, American version of masculinity that doesn't allow for the acknowledgement of emotional pain.  Roan’s setting of central Missouri moves past the Red State stereotypes that dominate our news, showing what so much political coverage misses: that even the most deeply conservative of regions contains communities with liberals as well as Republicans, and events in those communities can stray far from the faith and family doctrine that is espoused. Goldberg’s deft and intelligent plot, with murder and meth and a mass shooting, kept me guessing; his complex characters and masterful prose kept me enthralled. Roan is the best mystery I’ve read in a very, very long time--an active autopsy on what has gone so wrong in America.